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The State of Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury office sent a letter to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen at the end of March putting them on notice that if the water and sewer department operates two years in a row having a negative change in net assets, it will be defined as a financially distressed system. In addition, the letter stated requirements of future financial reporting applicable to “unaccounted for” water.

To see the letter from Marcee Burnett, Auditor with the Division of Municipal Audits, full size click.

The unaccounted for water is probably because water bills are not being sent out and also Metro raised their rates for LaVergne but LavERgne didnt raise their rates to the citizens. I wonder f anything will change? Probably not.

So I did some number crunching and this is what I came up with on the bill… according to my own water bill. We pay water only, not sewer since we’re on a septic system…. about .00375 p/gallon used. This means at 10,000 gallons p/day the daily bill would be $37.50. So over 365 days p/year that equals $13,575 p/year. Times 5 years = $67,875. Times 10 years = $135,750. Now if the commercial rate is higher than the residential rate… the bill could be significantly more.

My thought is that even if it was just five year, $67,875 could have hired …. I don’t know… another police officer? another city codes person?

Does anyone know what the commercial water usage rate is? Are my crude numbers off?

I understand from the Channel 4 report that a meter read from one day to the next showed 16,000 gallons used at the quarry. The fees for industrial customers inside corporate limits are minimum $224.00 p/month for the first 2,000 gallons. After that the fee is $3.75 p/thousand gallons used. Here’s what we have PER DAY:

So if the water usage was 16,000 gallons per day, the billing (if I’m right according to code and without exceptions or exemptions made) would be …

$21,588 per year.

How long has the quarry been using city water? That would figure how much – in my opinion – they owe absent other miscellaneous fees like the installation of the meter, etc.

UPDATE on COMMENT: Okay I think it’s more actually. It’s for the first 2,000 gallons p/month not per day. So there are 12 months p/year where $224 is paid for water used on day one of the month. After that first day, we convert back to the original 16,000 gallons (which I only figured on the 14,000 gallons p/day). I took 12 days (one p/month) from 365 days per year leaving 353 days. 2000 gallons @ 3.75 p/thousand = $7.50 extra each day x 353 days = 2647.50 more.

Total annual water bill based on 16,000 gallons p/day would be $24,235.50.

LOOK! Off in the distance. Heading towards city hall seems to be a mob of people with pitchforks and torches….and water bills.

This coming election if there is no major changes I offer Smyrna as a place of rufuge for people fleeing for a better land. I’ll sponsor whole families of refugees and will help you get settled here if need be. Political refugees are normally a UN protected group and you might even qualify for humanitarian relief and resettlement loans.

Unfortunately you better be careful what you wish for. I’ve said many times that if I ever felt like I had to leave La Vergne because of problems the LAST place I would move is Smyrna. Any problems that come to La Vergne will eventually move to Smyrna.

Smyrna is definitely more well run – at the moment. But your property taxes are also among the highest in the state. Although last time I checked people weren’t staling ATM machines at 4 AM from La Vergne. It still baffles me that someone was able to do that and there was no one on Sam Ridley Plwy.

I had to check on the tax levels and here are the numbers for the sake of conversations
LaVergne- $0.50 per $100 of assessed value (town website)
Smyrna- 0.86 Per $100 of assessed valuation (2009)
Murfreesboro- $1.407 per $100 of assessed value (town website)
Rutherford county gov-$2.56 property tax (website)

I suddenly feel sorry for the people of Murfreesboro and everyone in the county in general, but Smyrna is not the horror that some feel it is.

I knew things were bad in this dept and people have told me in the past I dont know what I am talking abot but I do. It;s time for a change of leadership in this dept. There is so much more to come out yet so just what and see!!!!

Mark, it’s definitely time for change, but not just in that one department. It’s time for leadership. I’m not necessarily promoting Ms. Mosley – I don’t know if she is capable or not. I still think we need highly educated people in office. Sometimes an associates degree doesn’t get it done either. Our current Mayor is definitely not well educated.

Very good questions Mark. Yes, the state has been contacted and has met with our Finance Director. Phillis got on this immediately. Yes, a storm water fee will be addressed along with the water bill that is owed by the illegal quarry. We discussed the water dept. today at budget and addressed a lot of issues.
Now Gunner, we are good people. We have issues but this is home for a lot of really great people!!!! I personally think it is worth fighting for!!!!! I must admit you do have a fine board in your town. I think alot of Mayor Dover and the council members that I have met.

I’ve met you Seanna and you seem like you really want to know what we think, but the flood of bad news from LaVergne is hard to miss.. With humor I offer asylum,l but I do offer hope that the next election sees real change.

Hey Gunner, you knew I was going to answer you!!! lol
I had to stand up for my city. I know who you are and enjoy reading your post. I hope you did not think I wrote back at you in anger. I did give a little chuckle when I read your post. That’s why I said what I did because we both enjoy humor!!!! I love to know people really think.( Good and Bad) Heck, yall know what I really think. Sometimes when I try to write cute or funny it comes off as smart a__. Sorry. But goosh, I love this place we call home.

You are right, there are gret people in your great city. I know you will FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT for the little people of your city. Some might not like you because of this but most do love you. I want you to go get em girlfriend and hope you do run and win for Mayor so you can get in there and clean things up better than they are right now. I know you can only do so much as an alderman but once your mayor you can do so much more. keep that head up and dont ever get down.

‘when it rains, it pours’ is what is happening today. Joking aside. I see from Smyrna that a lot of people in laVergne are feeling like there needs to be change but outside of the election process feel like they have hit a wall.

Hi Jennifer,
I noticed that no one answered your original question. I’ve heard rumors around the city about a couple of names running for Mayor, but nothing official. One of the guys I heard of as a front runner actually ran for office in 2008 as Alderman. I cannot remember his name (old age), but the source was fairly reliable that this person was going to run against our current Mayor. I’m in sales and speak to several businesses around town and they are hoping this guy runs. I;m sorry I cannot remember his name. I’ll see what I can come up with.

Hi Jennifer,
I have also heard rumors around the City about a couple names running for Mayor. One of the guys running was the campaign manager for Alderman Green. By the way, he came in last with 20% of the vote for Alderman in 2008 that put him last out of 3. He can’t remember his name because of the times he has changed it. LC, Longtime Fan, Hobbie Nobbie. Jennifer you get the picture. Longtime when you decide to remember which one he is I hope he tells you that he is running against Alderman Mosley because she will be the next Mayor of La Vergne TN. Alderman Mosley is and always has been for the people of La Vergne. Longtime remember this, you may like her or hate her you will never forget her name no matter how old you get.

I’ve heard of one or two people running but no official announcements have been made. When they are official, I’ll put them here!

My question is how DO we get qualified, informed people to run for office, whether as mayor or aldermen/women? I can think of several people who would be fantastic – some are commenters hereon this site. (Sorry Gunner & Mark … you allegedly have to LIVE in our town to run for office here! LOL!!).

Let me start off by introducing myself I am Chris Farmer, I am a Paramedic for Rutherford County Ems and I am work at the Lavergne station and also live in Lavergne. I have been a working on the ambulance for 18 years. I moved to Lavergne from Arkanasas 5 years ago this November. Arkansas was where I was born and raised, but since I moved to Lavergne this has turned into HOME for me and my family. We love this town and the friends we have made here are wonderful and will not move anywhere else. I am Assistant Chief of Box 100 and my wife and 16 year old son are also members of Box 100. Now with all that being said I am going to answer the question of who is running for alderman. ME. It is not official as we all know the paperwork can not be picked up until May 21. I want anyone who has questions or concerns to feel free to contact me at chris-farmer@comcast.net. I will answer any questions I can to the best off my knowledge. I truly do look forward to serving the people of Lavergne if I get elected. As soon as it is Official that my name is on the ballot I will post my phone number on here so you can call me with your questions or concerns. I would be happy to meet anyone who does not know me or wants to sit down and talk just shoot me an email and I will respond and we can get together and discuss any concerns. I hope to hear from you and I will be posting comments on here also. Thank you for taking time to read this lengthy post, but I felt that I should at least let everyone know who I was and that I was running and not try and hide behind an anonymous post as some others appear to be doing.